Have you ever been asked a question about apparent contradictions between science and the Bible and didn’t know how to answer?
Have you ever had a science lecturer say something that you didn’t agree with but you didn’t know how to answer him?
In a decade and over, there has been an explosion of written and web-based resources on issues related to science and the Bible. In fact, science is becoming our strongest apologetics tool.
When I go preaching and ministering on campus (Makerere University), in hospitals (particulary Mengo hsptl) and upcountry (Western uganda), OR sometimes when am hanging out with people, I realise that people have many unanswrered questions on various topics.
And in this post, I can only attempt to answer this one question:
What are the scientific evidences for the existence of God?
Some say that science and the Bible have no relationship to each other, that science tells us things about the natural world and theology tells us about the spiritual world !!!
Well, consider the following scriptures.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-19)
- “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalms 19:1-2)
- “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this.” (Job 12:7-9)
Clearly, these passages say that nature is speaking to us. It is telling us about God! We cannot divorce science from the Bible.
Not only does the Bible tell us about the spiritual world it tells us about the natural world as well. And not only does nature tell us about the natural world it tells shows clear evidence of an intelligent designer as well. So what about all those conflicts between science and the Bible? Well, I think Dr. Hugh Ross says it best:
“Science is an attempt to interpret the facts of nature. Christian theology is an attempt to interpret the words of the Bible. Since, according to that theology, God created the universe and is also responsible for the words of the Bible and since He does not lie or deceive, there can be no contradiction between science and the facts of nature. Any conflict between science and Christian theology must be attributed to human misinterpretation. Such conflicts should be viewed with neither fear for the integrity of the Bible nor outrage against science, but rather should be accepted for the time being as indications that further research is needed. The Christian expectation is that such research will lead to greater understanding of both science and theology and to eventual reconciliation that will uphold both the Bible and the data from nature.” (Creation and Time)I think there are three convincing evidences from science of the existence of God:1. Scientific evidence indicates that there was a beginning to the universe.For centuries scientists thought that the universe was eternal, but the work of Einstein and Hubble clearly showed that the universe had a beginning in which all time, matter and energy came to be. Scientists call that event the Big Bang. The Big Bang is the greatest apologetics tool among the scientific evidences of God. Consider the fact that the Bible is the only holy book that says the following:
Ø Time has a beginning, time is finite, and God created time.Ø God can act entirely independent of the four space-time dimensions.Ø God has attributes that defy explanation in the four space-time dimensions.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Hebrews 11:3)“This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (II Timothy 1:9)“The hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.” (Titus 1:2)“You loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24)“He chose us in Him before the creation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)“He was chosen before the creation of the world.” (I Peter 1:20)“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)2. Scientific evidence indicates that the universe has been incredibly fine tuned for life on earth.Consider the following:
If the energy of the big bang were different by one part out of (10120) there would be no life anywhere in our universe.
There are more than 50 characteristics of the universe that have to be just right in order for any kind of life to exist in the universe.
There are more than 118 characteristics of our planet, the Moon, the Sun, and our galaxy that have to be just right in order for any kind of life to exist on earth.
The probability that all these characteristics would be “just right” = 10237
The predicted maximum number of planets in the universe = 1022
There is less than one chance in 10215 that even one life sustaining planet would occur anywhere in the universe. 3. Life shows evidence of intelligent design.There has been significant advancement in this area of science. Nowhere has this become more evident than in the fields of cell biology and biochemistry. Scientists are discovering more and more molecular machines that show clear evidence of design.If you would like to learn more about how science can be used as a powerful apologetics tool I encourage you to check out the following web sites.
“Science is an attempt to interpret the facts of nature. Christian theology is an attempt to interpret the words of the Bible. Since, according to that theology, God created the universe and is also responsible for the words of the Bible and since He does not lie or deceive, there can be no contradiction between science and the facts of nature. Any conflict between science and Christian theology must be attributed to human misinterpretation. Such conflicts should be viewed with neither fear for the integrity of the Bible nor outrage against science, but rather should be accepted for the time being as indications that further research is needed. The Christian expectation is that such research will lead to greater understanding of both science and theology and to eventual reconciliation that will uphold both the Bible and the data from nature.” (Creation and Time)I think there are three convincing evidences from science of the existence of God:1. Scientific evidence indicates that there was a beginning to the universe.For centuries scientists thought that the universe was eternal, but the work of Einstein and Hubble clearly showed that the universe had a beginning in which all time, matter and energy came to be. Scientists call that event the Big Bang. The Big Bang is the greatest apologetics tool among the scientific evidences of God. Consider the fact that the Bible is the only holy book that says the following:
Ø Time has a beginning, time is finite, and God created time.Ø God can act entirely independent of the four space-time dimensions.Ø God has attributes that defy explanation in the four space-time dimensions.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Hebrews 11:3)“This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (II Timothy 1:9)“The hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.” (Titus 1:2)“You loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24)“He chose us in Him before the creation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)“He was chosen before the creation of the world.” (I Peter 1:20)“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)2. Scientific evidence indicates that the universe has been incredibly fine tuned for life on earth.Consider the following:
If the energy of the big bang were different by one part out of (10120) there would be no life anywhere in our universe.
There are more than 50 characteristics of the universe that have to be just right in order for any kind of life to exist in the universe.
There are more than 118 characteristics of our planet, the Moon, the Sun, and our galaxy that have to be just right in order for any kind of life to exist on earth.
The probability that all these characteristics would be “just right” = 10237
The predicted maximum number of planets in the universe = 1022
There is less than one chance in 10215 that even one life sustaining planet would occur anywhere in the universe. 3. Life shows evidence of intelligent design.There has been significant advancement in this area of science. Nowhere has this become more evident than in the fields of cell biology and biochemistry. Scientists are discovering more and more molecular machines that show clear evidence of design.If you would like to learn more about how science can be used as a powerful apologetics tool I encourage you to check out the following web sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment